Microsoft: Windows 8 Sales 'On Par' With Windows 7 Sales

Sales of Windows 8 PCs were pretty sluggish to start with, but according to Microsoft, sales of Windows 8 licenses have been decent, at least -- they've sold the same number of Windows 8 licenses as they'd sold Windows 7 licenses by this point, 90 days in.

In an interview with the official Windows blog, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Tami Reller, said:

"More than 60 million licenses sold is on par with the record setting pace we saw with Windows 7"

Considering that Windows 8 was heavily discounted until the start of February, it would be surprising if it hadn't managed to, at the very least, keep pace with Windows 7 sales. Still, this shows that at least there's appetite for upgrades. There was no comment on the ongoing Microsoft-vs-the-manufacturers blame game on why Windows 8 PCs aren't selling.

Also of note from the interview is the figure of 100 million apps downloaded from the Windows Store in the first 60 days. This is no doubt encouraged by Microsoft's developer-friendly model of allowing the app's maker to retain 100 per cent of the in-app sale profits, making developing apps for the Windows Store a more appealing prospect for devs swamped with platforms to develop for. Still, it's an encouraging figure for Microsoft, given that the App Store is the only thing stopping Windows 8 RT from being a barren featureless wasteland.

Overall then, despite a slow start and poor sales of the Surface RT, it looks like Windows 8, at the very least, hasn't been a total disaster for Microsoft. Now, if they can just manage to not screw up the Surface Pro launch.... [TechRadar]